The business meeting is the rhythm of our professional lives. And with good reason! It’s essential to the smooth running of a company’s activities and project management.
Yet many people consider most meetings pointless, seeing them as a waste of time. For example, a Zippia survey reports that 65% of employees consider frequent meetings to be detrimental to the proper accomplishment of their tasks.
So what are the keys to a successful team meeting? And what best practices can be put in place to make them more meaningful?
From sound advice to clever tools, discover how to organize and run an effective work meeting.
When and why organize a business meeting?
A business meeting is only appropriate when there is a need to exchange ideas, or when a group dynamic is required.
☝️ Barring exceptional circumstances, avoid organizing a meeting with the aim of transmitting information “top-down”. In this case, a simple e-mail may suffice.
You need to think carefully beforehand about the objectives of your meeting. This may seem obvious, but always ask yourself: “What exactly do I want to get my staff together for? “. Without doing so, you run the risk of wasting everyone’s time.
The objectives of the meeting can be of different kinds:
- establish an action plan;
- reorganize a department ;
- reorganize work methods;
- welcome a new employee ;
- coordinate projects ;
- negotiate, etc.
Once you’ve clearly defined your objective, you’ll be in a better position to determine the direction and type of your business meeting.
The different types of business meeting
The content of the meeting determines its type. Here are the most common.
Department or review meeting
This is a regular, often weekly, meeting that enables a team to take stock of projects in progress, tasks accomplished and any bottlenecks.
The department meeting, or review, encourages exchanges between team members, with the aim of strengthening coordination and aligning priorities.
Information meeting
Less participative than the previous one, this meeting is held when management needs to communicate on really important issues (new organization, change of direction, takeover, etc.).
Before organizing it, always ask yourself whether the information can be conveyed in another way, by e-mail for example.
Crisis or problem-solving meetings
Convened in response to a sudden difficulty, such as an operational incident, the crisis meeting is used to unblock a complicated situation, settle conflicts, resolve communication problems and so on.
It’s a delicate exercise, where you need to be a good listener to ease tensions.
Brainstorming
This is the meeting dedicated to creativity par excellence!
The objective? To generate as many new ideas as possible around a specific topic. Properly led, it can bring out truly innovative ideas that will benefit your business.
How to prepare a meeting
Select the right participants
There’s nothing more frustrating than the feeling that you’ve wasted time in a meeting you didn’t have to attend.
That’s why you need to select your participants carefully.
Always ask yourself the following question: which employees will be essential to achieving the previously defined objective?
Also, make sure you get confirmation of attendance from everyone well in advance. This will enable you to anticipate any absences, and reorganize accordingly.
Plan the meeting efficiently
Next comes the planning stage. Find a date that suits everyone. And avoid, as far as possible, meetings between 2pm and 4pm: because of digestion, the brain is much less receptive in this time slot.
💡 And if you find it difficult to plan your work meetings efficiently, consider the many software programs that make the task easier, such as Doodle.
Choose the right venue
Just as you chose a suitable time slot, make sure you select an appropriate meeting venue. It should offer sufficient capacity for all participants.
We also recommend that you avoid blind rooms, as artificial light is much more tiring for the brain than daylight.
Of course, it’s perfectly possible to operate via videoconferencing. As long as you use a tool that integrates all the necessary functions, such as screen sharing.
Draw up a work meeting plan
Organizing a smooth and efficient business meeting necessarily involves drawing up a plan.
This is similar to a meeting preparation sheet. We suggest you construct it as follows:
- Highlight on your document your agenda, i.e. the list of subjects to be dealt with, discussed, voted on, etc. It must lead to the achievement of the objectives of the meeting. It must lead to the achievement of pre-defined objectives.
- Prioritize the topics to be addressed.
- Allocate a specific amount of time for each phase. In this way, you’ll avoid getting bogged down on certain points, and therefore running out of time to deal with the next ones.
- Remember to include extra time at the end of the meeting for questions.
- If necessary, include the names of the participants on your document, as well as the place and date of the meeting.
Involve participants
At this stage in the preparation of your meeting, and if you deem it necessary, call on certain participants to work on the themes to be addressed.
To do this, send them your agenda, and indicate the topics on which you’d like them to take the lead during the meeting.
Prepare working documents and materials
Finally, take the time to carefully prepare your working documents. They’re what make the meeting more dynamic and effective.
💡 If you want to rely on more impactful working aids, turn to presentation software. Prezi, for example, will help you make the difference. It offers dynamic templates (created by designers) that will make your presentations more captivating.
In addition, always check in advance the availability and functionality of the equipment you intend to use (pens, flipchart paper, extension cord, etc.). Who hasn’t lost precious time because a video projector wouldn’t turn on?
Finally, if you know that the meeting is likely to drag on for a long time, a snack or a bottle of water is always appreciated.
How to run a business meeting
Introduce the meeting properly
It’s all about the introduction. To get it right, you need to :
- start on time;
- remind participants of the meeting’s agenda and objectives;
- briefly review the role of each participant, and remind everyone of the rules and time limits for your meeting;
- if necessary, appoint a secretary to take notes (with a view to drafting minutes), or even to manage time.
Make sure the meeting runs smoothly
Has your business meeting started?
As the organizer, it’s up to you to make sure it runs smoothly, by following these few tips:
- make sure the meeting is moving in the right direction. To achieve this, make sure the agenda is respected, by guiding the discussions in the right direction;
- make sure that speaking time is fairly distributed, and encourage all participants to speak;
- anticipate and defuse conflicts;
- use working documents and facilitation tools wisely;
- synthesize and regularly ensure that all those present understand the information and issues involved;
- if you haven’t delegated this role, make sure you keep to the timetable.
Conclude the meeting
Time to end your team meeting?
Conclude it by summarizing the debates and decisions taken. Depending on your needs, take some time to plan the next meeting, or even determine its purpose.
Finally, always send a report to the meeting participants afterwards. These are based on your notes or those taken by your secretary, and summarize the progress made and conclusions reached.
10 tips to boost your business meetings
- Limit the duration of meetings to 30-45 minutes, as concentration drops sharply after that.
- Set up a “meeting-free zone”, i.e. time slots or days without meetings to encourage in-depth work.
- Ask one participant to play the role of constructive critic, to avoid group bias.
- Opt for stand-up meetings. Stand-up meetings energize discussions and naturally shorten their duration.
- If certain points do not concern everyone, allow participants to leave the meeting once they have finished their contribution.
- Incorporate periods of silence: these few minutes of individual reflection before decisions are taken improve the quality of exchanges.
- Measure post-meeting effectiveness by means of a mini-survey or anonymous feedback.
- Experiment with the “reverse meeting” format. Here, participants consult the documents in advance, then come with questions or decisions to validate.
- Display a roadmap or kanban to keep you on track in real time.
- Reward effective meetings. Why not introduce a “meeting of the week” or a small symbolic reward for the most relevant formats?
What to remember from the meeting?
As we’ve seen, it’s quite possible to “re-enchant” the work meeting, to stop seeing it as a waste of time.
But to make sure you add real value to your meeting, there’s no secret: prepare it rigorously and methodically!
And don’t forget to use specific software to help you make your meeting a success, and make it a much more collaborative and dynamic exercise. Your staff will thank you!
